I can’t imagine anyone is surprised Sean Avery was waived yesterday. Avery has lived in coach John Tortorella’s bad graces since before Tortorella coached the Rangers. It’s vaguely sad, though, since there are things Avery and Tortorella could have done to make the relationship work. I hardly consider myself an Avery fan, but he’s an interesting character who makes the NHL a more interesting place (for better or for worse). It would have been nice if he could have somehow held onto a slot with the Rangers.
What Avery Could Have Done
Get Serious. Avery never figured out how to exist as a serious NHL player. He plays the pest very well. He’s great at drawing attention to himself on the ice. But he never developed a three-dimensional game. He was never great defensively or offensively, which is how he wound up getting waived. But it didn’t need to go down like that. Avery could have worked on his defensive positioning. He could have made more of an effort to backcheck. And he could...

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